Christmas In July Is Crazy—Thanksgiving Burgers Are What's Up

Stuffing and gravy in July sounds absurd ... but is it really? When our site director excitedly declared "THANKSGIVING BURGERS" in the middle of a conversation about cheeseburgers, I'll admit I was skeptical. I'm not ready to even think about fall because, honestly, it feels like just yesterday I stored away my puffy winter coat and dug out flip flops. But when I dropped the idea to the bigger team, however, people went it to hysterics. No one cared that it was 90 degrees outside, they only cared about stuffing. Thus, Thanksgiving burgers in July became a thing.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Jonathan Boulton

When imagining your ideal Thanksgiving burger, it can be easy to get carried away. You'll be tempted to load all your favorite holiday staples between two buns. This makes the burgers both hard to make and impossible to bite into. Adding mashed potatoes to your Thanksgiving leftover sandwich is just dandy, but you don't need to cream a bunch of Idaho spuds for a turkey burger. The consensus of the Delish kitchen was this: cranberries, stuffing and gravy can't be skipped—everything else can wait until November. I fought a little bit for brie, because the thought of a burger without cheese made me sad, but I was overruled. (I still think it might be delicious, but it's 100% unnecessary.)

Jonathan Boulton

Unlike the big fall feast, where ideally everything is made from scratch, we relied heavily on store-bought ingredients for this recipe. Buy pre-made ground turkey patties and season them with thyme and dried sage. For the stuffing, pick up mix and follow the instructions on the back of the bag (or box). Ain't nobody got time to cube stale bread. Whole cranberries from a can are preferred, but no judgements will be made if you use the sliceable jelly. And the gravy comes from a can too. (A few taste testers thought it was homemade.)

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

It's way too early to think about the holidays. Don't take this as a sign to start pinning turkey recipes. Forget about the calendar, but make these ASAP. You'll be so thankful you did.

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
Delish participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.